Chinmaya Vrindavan - Cultural events

Brihadeeswara – form to formless takes the audience on a journey into the soul and mind of a Devaradiyaal, Based on the guidance of renowned scholar Dr. T.N Ramachandran and historian Dr. Kodavayil Balasubramanian and Dr BM Sundaram, this production celebrates the intertwining of the spatial and spiritual vibrations experienced by the Devaradiyaal, as she goes about her day to day life in the hallowed architectural wonder the Brihadeeswara temple. This presentation is based on the 1000 year old Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur. This production was presented at the UNESCO head office in Paris as a part of the heritage celebrations.

Bala Devi Chandrashekar is a Bharatanatyam exponent, research scholar, and a passionate committed teacher of Bharatanatyam. Bala is know for her distinct scholarly style and takes on subjects based on ancient texts, backed by intense research, collaborates with renowned scholars in the respective fields, carving messages from scriptures relevant to the contemporary world and actively presenting across the world. Bala Devi's lineage is from a family of philosophers and literary scholars. Bala through her classical dance strives to interpret ancient philosophical and spiritual concepts and presents in a classicism that is always contemporary in interpretation and communicates across cultures, All her production are accompanied by world class music. Born in Vijayawada and very keen in dance from an early age, Bala Devi started her initial training under Guru Jayalakshmi Narayanan in Hyderabad and then went onto learn with Dr Padma Subrahmanyam in Chennai. Dr Padma Subrahmanyam has awarded the titles " Bharata Nrtya Seva Mani" and " Nrtyasali- completed course in 108 Karanas" to Bala Devi Chandrashekar. Extremely passionate about teaching, and as a Professor of Practice & as the Artistic Director of SPNAPA Academy of Performing Arts, Princeton, New Jersey, she imparts valuable knowledge to her many dedicated students. Bala constantly works on developing and perfecting the style that would be seamless and fluid while yet retaining the precision, power and purity of line - typical of classical dance.

As a Professor of Practice, Bala is constantly developing “Performing studies” in collaboration with Theater and Dance, History, Philosophy, Linguistic anthropology and South Asian Departments of various Universities in the United States and served as Fellow and Artist in Residence at The Carl A fields Center@Princeton University. Bala is one of the few Bharatanatyam artist worldwide to have released eight critically acclaimed dance production based on her extensive research. They are Nandanar Charithram, MLV favorites, Krishna Arpanam, Uddhava Gita - Lord Krishna's last message, Vishwam - The Omnipresent, Tripura - Divine Feminine, Karna - Destiny's Child, Brihadeeswara - Form to formless through the eyes of a Devaradiyal. All of these works are accompanied by world class music and have been produced in digital format.Over the last 25 years, Bala Devi have given over 500 performances across 30 countries. Bala Devi Chandrashekar is a ICCR approved artist and approved by the Ministry of Culture Govt. of India for overseas festivals.

Padmini Rao studied under Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, the Dhrupad and Rudra veena maestro. She received her master's degree in music from SNDT University in Mumbai, India, under the guidance of Padma Bhushan, Dr. Prabha Atre. Padmini has been Dr. Atre's student for over 20 years. Her music is thus a blend of two of India's most enchanting musical streams: the dhrupad and the khayal.